“We reviewed the Greenville “back page ” as well, and it’s not even close. Craigslist is like reading a children’s book by comparison.”

“McMaster is targeting Craigslist for one reason – they’ve been in the news and he can generate easy headlines by going after them. Oh, and since it’s part of his “official duties,” that means taxpayers have to pay for his media barrage / frivilous prosecution.”

McMaster set a deadline for all the ads to be removed and when the deadline went unmet, he issued a statement that he “had no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution.”

But wait — he does have one alternative: Knock off the publicity ploys and put his efforts toward other concerns, things like scams on the elderly, fake warranty robo-calls and people who prey on others in financial difficulties with “get-out-of-debt” schemes.

“Many prominent companies, including AT&T, Microsoft and Village Voice Media — not to mention major newspapers and other upstanding South Carolina businesses — feature more ‘adult services’ ads than does Craigslist, some of a very graphic nature,” Buckmaster wrote in his blog.

McMaster spokesman Mark Plowden did not return calls this morning for comment.

Remember – the firms that read sites like Tech Crunch are precisely the sort of companies we want to come to South Carolina, especially now that House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s whole “hydrogen economy” has come crashing down on top of his head.

Now, thanks to McMaster, they’re all laughing at us.

Posted in Media | Comments Off on Local Coverage of AG McMaster Apology Question

May 16, 2009

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster today announced that ourrecent improvements, which go far beyond measures he himself personally endorsed with his own signature six months ago, not only aren’t good enough, but actually require a criminal investigation:

“As of 5:00 p.m. this afternoon, the craigslist South Carolina site continues to display advertisements for prostitution and graphic pornographic material. This content was not removed as we requested. We have no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution.”

He evidently feels justified in singling out craigslist for investigation, and publicly condemning me personally as being worthy of criminal prosecution.

Seriously? The craigslist adult services section for Greenville, SC has a total of 1 ad for the last 3 days, featuring a photograph of a fully clothed person. The “erotic services” section for Greenville, which we recently closed, has 8 ads total which will expire in two days, and even for these ads the images and text are quite tame.

Meanwhile, the “adult entertainment” section of greenville.backpage.com(careful with link, NSFW), owned by Village Voice Media, has over 60 ads for the last 3 days, and about 250 in total. In sharp contrast with craigslist, many of these ads are quite explicit, quoting prices for specific sex acts, featuring close-ups of bare genitalia, etc.

Of course, no one in mainstream legal circles thinks either company should be subject to civil suit, let alone a criminal investigation. But if for whatever reason you were so motivated, would you target a venue with 9 PG-13 rated ads, or one with 250 XXX rated ones?

And FWIW, telephone yellow pages and other local print media have both companies beat hands down as adult service ad venues for South Carolina.

Any interest in targeting them for criminal prosecution? Didn’t think so.

Update – 1st comment on this entry lists 19 adult ads for 1 day from the Charleston Post and Courier.